


the native custom acquired

by Addison R (beyond_belief)



Category: The Eagle | The Eagle of the Ninth (2011)
Genre: Begging, Hair Brushing, M/M, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-13 13:14:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12984822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyond_belief/pseuds/Addison%20R
Summary: "I liked you as a savage."





	the native custom acquired

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wagnetic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wagnetic/gifts).



> This year's Yuletide was probably the first year I looked at my assignment and thought, "I could probably write all of these!", plus Wagnetic's list of likes matched up so nicely with my own list of things I like to write - so here we are with some random hairbrushing + begging.

"I do not think I could have said this," Marcus says, the _before now_ gone unspoken as he strokes a hand over Esca's hair while they drowse by the carefully built brazier, warm amid the furs draping their pallet, "but I liked you as a savage."

Esca makes a querying noise and stretches against him. "I am still a savage," he replies, and there's laughter in his voice.

"But now you are your own savage." He thinks Esca understands what he means; out here on their own land Marcus has found he's only half as tame as he once thought himself to be, even if he won't give in to Esca's requests that he let his hair grow.

Esca's own hair is shaggy enough now that he can tie more than the top half of it back with a strip of leather, and at night Marcus undoes it for him and works out any knots brought by the wind. It looks right on him - barely controlled, on the edge of wild. Marcus unties the leather now, picking out the knot with care, and passing the strip to Esca to wind around his wrist so it's not lost.

"You watched me so carefully, out there," he murmurs. "Where's the comb?"

Esca passes it to him. "I did not understand you then."

Marcus nods, mostly himself, because that's a fair reply. He props himself up on his elbow, then starts at the bottom of Esca's wind-blown hair and begins to work the wooden comb through, moving it slightly side-to-side to coax out the tangles without too much pulling. 

"Also," Esca adds, shifting slightly so that his legs press back against Marcus', "you are mine, so I had to keep an eye on you."

Marcus feels his cheeks flame. "Such words are unfair."

"No, they are true." Esca looks over his shoulder, smiling, and Marcus feels that same pull in his stomach as he always feels when Esca talks like this, shame and pleasure mixed, not wanting to be less a Roman for enjoying it, and enjoying it despite that. There's no one for three thousand paces except the two of them and the animals; the nearest village is more than an hour's ride. No one can see him blush except Esca.

And Esca enjoys it. The first time they had lain together, no tunics or bracchae between them, Marcus was embarrassed, part of him wanting to turn away like Rome could see them even this far in Britain. But Esca refused to let him hide, asked Marcus to tell him the things he wanted, murmured all his own desires hot in Marcus' ear until Marcus couldn't help but nod along, trying to touch Esca everywhere that he could reach. "Tell me what you want, Marcus," Esca said, his breath damp against Marcus' cheek. "You can whisper. No one else will hear."

Marcus ducks in now to press a kiss to Esca's jaw. It's rough with beard, but Marcus is soft and careful, and Esca makes a pleased noise. "Let me finish combing your hair," Marcus says, feeling his blush start to fade somewhat.

"You can do that after." Esca's hand comes back to rub over Marcus' thigh. 

"Then there will be even more knots - I'll finish it now."

Esca sighs, but not in the way he does when he's truly upset, and Marcus resumes his ministrations. There are even a few bits of leaves; he picks those out gently and wonders what Esca had even been doing. "Really, you should cut this mess if you're going to get leaves stuck in it," he says, but Esca only laughs, and points out that if he did, Marcus couldn't fix it for him every night.

Marcus only grumbles for a second. "I still doubt rolling on the ground in the woods accomplishes anything."

"It accomplishes many things," Esca replies, petting Marcus' thigh again, "such as letting me laugh at your complaints about it while you take care of the mess for me."

Marcus pretends an offended noise, but Esca's not wrong. He combs out another section, smoothing the hair back behind Esca's ear. Esca continues to stroke his thigh, but gently, careful of the old injury. It's been stiffer now since the weather began to change and Marcus has to limp around their small farm most days, but it doesn't pain him like it used to. 

He has to sit up a little further to finish on the other side of Esca's head, but sweeping the hair away from Esca's ear exposes the softest part of his neck, and Marcus can't help but lean in to press a kiss there. Esca makes a happy sound and leans heavily against him. "Do you think that soon it will be too cold for Phyrrus to stay out with the horses?" he asks, as Marcus nuzzles at his neck. 

"Yes. He is still young. But he can't sleep with us."

"No, on the floor," Esca chuckles. Phyrrus is six months and already huge; Esca traded a deerskin for him in the village, saying a hound would be good for keeping some unwanted animals away. "He's no bigger than a rabbit himself," Marcus said.

"For now." Esca picked the reddish-colored pup up by the scruff while he tried to bark as pups did, then tucked him close so he couldn't squirm away. "But look at those feet."

Phyrrus follows them both nearly everywhere, and just tonight Marcus had to tell him firmly to lie down in the barn. "Good," he says. "Because I don't think we could actually keep him out much longer."

"Another body to warm the air won't be any hardship." Esca turns his head and catches Marcus' mouth in a brief kiss. 

"And to think you were confused by kissing," Marcus murmurs against his lips.

"Only at first." Esca takes the comb from his hand and quickly ties back the top half of his hair again, then sets the comb away. "There. Now you have no excuse."

"An _excuse_ ," Marcus scoffs, letting Esca push him back onto the furs. They're warm and soft against his bare back, and he's reminded that soon it will be too cold to sleep in so little clothes, even with the fire. But for tonight, he's still going to enjoy it. 

Esca's looking down at him, smiling. "What is it?" Marcus asks, running a hand down Esca's chest. "Why do you look at me in such a way?"

"I like to look at you." Esca shrugs slightly, then leans down for another kiss. 

"No, you look at me as though you're making plans," Marcus replies, in between kisses that grow deeper each time. He bites Esca's lower lip, but without real pressure. 

Esca reaches down to palm his good thigh, squeezing the muscle. "Plans for how to best make you beg."

That's all it takes for Marcus to flush red again, and it must be obvious, because Esca grins widely and quickly undoes Marcus' sublicagulum. "Esca," Marcus gasps, as Esca strokes gentle fingertips over his cock. Esca always looks so satisfied when he gets Marcus on his back like this, and Marcus always gets weak-kneed to think about it like that. 

He reaches to undo Esca's underthings so that there's nothing between them at all, and carefully parts his knees for Esca to lie between. "You like this," Esca murmurs in his ear, lazily sliding his cock against Marcus'. It's not a question, but Marcus nods anyway, pleasure rolling through him like the stream that flows through their plot of land. 

"Where should I touch you?" Esca asks, and Marcus knows that's not a question, either, but an efficient way for Esca to get him bothered and squirming in seconds. "Here?" He slides a hand up the back of Marcus' leg and squeezes hard. "Or maybe…" The same hand traces up over Marcus' belly, then pinches his nipple. Marcus groans and rocks upward. He can't go far with Esca's full weight on him. 

"Or perhaps you'd like my mouth," Esca whispers. Marcus shudders at that. The blood is rushing in his ears. "My tongue?"

"Esca, please."

Teeth scrape over Marcus' neck and he groans again. Esca is so close, and so warm. Marcus' mouth aches to kiss, but Esca is moving downward now, so he slides his fingers through Esca's hair. 

"I think I'll stop here," Esca announces, resting his cheek on Marcus' belly. He wraps his hand firmly around Marcus' cock and strokes, slowly. "If only so I can keep talking, because it gets you so bothered."

Marcus shivers and does his best not to rock up into Esca's grip. "I'm not…"

"You are." Esca tightens his grip slightly, making Marcus breathe in hard through his nose. "But I like it, and I know you like it despite your protestations, so I think we both win?" 

Marcus rubs his heels against the furs and strokes his hand over Esca's hair as Esca works his cock. Not so slowly that Marcus feels like dying, but slow enough that he feels restless all over. "Esca, you -"

"Mm?"

Marcus cries out, not caring that he's loud. That, too, he'd had to work up to, but it helped that Esca was no longer silent about his own pleasure, instead now almost uninhibited in the sounds he makes. "Marcus, you were saying something," he hears Esca say.

Marcus can't remember the words he'd stopped in the middle of. He shakes his head, then groans again as Esca toys with his foreskin before stroking calloused fingertips over the head of his cock. "Let me touch you, too," he manages to say.

Esca shakes his head. There's a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "In a moment."

He does suck Marcus then, repositioning himself in such a smooth movement that Marcus barely realizes it's happening until his cock is in Esca's mouth. His whole body feels like it's on fire, from the tips of his toes up to his scalp, and when he gasps for air his lungs don't want to cooperate. "Please - Esca -"

Language deserts him then, and Esca doesn't pull away, swallowing around him. Marcus is dimly aware of the hot tears sliding down over his temples and the rasp of his breath. Fingertips brush over his eyes. "Oh, Marcus," he hears Esca whisper, and then Esca is settling carefully on top of him, letting Marcus hide his face in the join of Esca's neck and shoulder. After a moment, Esca says, "There's plenty more we could do to make you cry," and Marcus shudders, still hot and tender. "But maybe not tonight."

Marcus kisses his neck in acknowledgement, before carefully moving his good leg so Esca can rub off against it while they trade kisses. Marcus keeps one hand in Esca's hair as they do, finding that it makes him feel less like he's about to drift away. It's only a minute before Esca's spilling onto Marcus' belly, messy but looking so beautiful in the light of the fire that Marcus can't hold back from pressing more kisses to his face, patchy beard be damned. 

Esca draws away briefly, but only to get a rag and wipe up some of the mess. "I'll bathe in the stream tomorrow anyway," Marcus murmurs, yawning in the middle of it. "There's no ice yet."

"I'm not hauling you out when your leg locks up," Esca huffs in reply, but moves over Marcus so that he's warm against Marcus' back, letting him be closer to the fire while they sleep. At first, Marcus hadn't known what to make of Esca draped halfway over him, face pressed to Marcus' neck, but now he doesn't think he could sleep without it. 

He's nearly asleep when Esca kisses the nape of his neck, and he hears Esca's lazy murmur. "And next time, Marcus, I'll be using your mouth."


End file.
